A report on History of Poland (1945–1989), Solidarity (Polish trade union) and Revolutions of 1989

The fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989

Map showing the different borders and territories of Poland and Germany during the 20th century, with the current areas of Germany and Poland in dark gray

30th anniversary mural depicting the murdered priest Jerzy Popiełuszko who publicly supported Solidarity during the 1980s

Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev in Red Square, Moscow, 1988

An animated series of maps showing the fall of the Communist regimes in Eastern Europe and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, which later led to conflicts in the post-Soviet space

The PKWN Manifesto, officially issued on 22 July 1944. In reality it was not finished until mid-August, after the Polish communist Moscow group was joined by the late-arriving Warsaw group, led by Gomułka and Bierut.

Students in Scotland collect signatures for a petition in support of Solidarity in 1981

The 20–21 March 1981 issue of Wieczór Wrocławia (This Evening in Wrocław) shows blank spaces remaining after the government censor pulled articles from page 1 (right, "What happened at Bydgoszcz?") and from the last page (left, "Country-wide strike alert"), leaving only their titles as the printers—Solidarity-trade-union members—decided to run the newspaper with blank spaces intact. The bottom of page 1 of this master copy bears the hand-written Solidarity confirmation of that decision.

Postwar Polish communist propaganda poster depicting "The giant and the putrid reactionary midget", meaning the communist People's Army soldier and the pro-Western Home Army soldier, respectively

Solidarity, ETUC Demonstration—Budapest 2011

Queue waiting to enter a store, a typical view in Poland in the 1980s

ORMO paramilitary police unit during street parade at the Victory Square, 9 June 1946, Warsaw

Solidarity Chairman Lech Wałęsa (center) with President George H. W. Bush (right) and Barbara Bush (left) in Warsaw, July 1989

Magyars demonstrate at state TV headquarters, 15 March 1989

The show trial of Captain Witold Pilecki, sentenced to death and executed May 1948

Otto von Habsburg, who played a leading role in opening the Iron Curtain

The Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw, initially called the Stalin's Palace, was a controversial gift from Soviet leader Joseph Stalin

Erich Honecker lost control in summer 1989.

Berlin Wall at the Brandenburg Gate, 10 November 1989

1951 East German stamp commemorative of the Treaty of Zgorzelec establishing the Oder–Neisse line as a "border of peace", featuring the presidents Wilhelm Pieck (GDR) and Bolesław Bierut (Poland)

Berlin Wall, October 1990, saying "Thank You, Gorbi"

Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński, Primate of Poland

Protests beneath the monument in Wenceslas Square, in Prague

Memorial of the Velvet Revolution in Bratislava (Námestie SNP), Slovakia

The Fourth Congress of the Polish United Workers' Party, held in 1963

Armed civilians during the Romanian Revolution. The revolution was the only violent overthrow of a Communist state in the Warsaw Pact.

The Polski Fiat 125p, produced in Poland from the late 1960s, was based on technology purchased from Fiat

Standard-bearers of the 27 Tank Regiment, mid-1960s

Mikhail Gorbachev and President George H. W. Bush on board the Soviet cruise ship Maxim Gorky, Marsaxlokk Harbour

Dziady, a theatrical event that spawned nationwide protests

Tanks in Moscow's Red Square during the 1991 coup attempt

Demonstrators in Gdynia carry the body of Zbigniew Godlewski, who was shot and killed during the protests of 1970

Changes in national boundaries after the end of the Cold War

Baltic Way was a human chain of approximately two million people demanding independence of the Baltic states from the Soviet Union.

Queue line, a frequent scene at times of shortages of consumer goods in the 1970s and 1980s

Photos of 9 April 1989 victims of the Tbilisi massacre on a billboard in Tbilisi

Millions cheer Pope John Paul II in his first visit to Poland as pontiff in 1979

Following Georgia's declaration of independence in 1991, South Ossetia and Abkhazia declared their desire to leave Georgia and remain part of the Soviet Union/Russia.

Lech Wałęsa speaks during the strike at the Gdańsk Shipyard, August 1980

Chechen women praying for Russian troops not to advance towards Grozny during the First Chechen War, December 1994.

25th anniversary of Solidarity, summer 2005 in Gdańsk

Georgian Civil War and the War in Abkhazia in August–October 1993

General Wojciech Jaruzelski led the People's Republic during its final decade and became one of the key players in the systemic transition of 1989–90

Current military situation in separatist Nagorno-Karabakh

Apartment block residences built in People's Poland loom over the urban landscape of the entire country. In the past administratively distributed for permanent use, after 1989 most were sold to residents at discounted prices.

Eritrean War of Independence against Ethiopia ended in 1991

Adam Michnik, an influential leader in the transformation of Poland

Russian GDP since the end of the Soviet Union (from 2014 are forecasts)

NATO has added 13 new members since the German reunification and the end of the Cold War.

The facade of the Grand Kremlin Palace was restored to its original form after the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. The State Emblem of the USSR and the embedded letters forming the abbreviation of the USSR (CCCP) were both removed and replaced by five Russian double-headed eagles. An additional restoration of the coat of arms of the various territories of the Russian Empire were placed above the eagles.

Solidarity's leader Lech Wałęsa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983 and the union is widely recognised as having played a central role in the Historyend of Communist rule in Poland.

- Solidarity (Polish trade union)

On 4 June 1989, the trade union Solidarity won an overwhelming victory in a partially free election in Poland, leading to the peaceful fall of Communism in that country.

- Revolutions of 1989

In early August 1980, a new wave of strikes resulted in the founding of the independent trade union "Solidarity" (Solidarność) led by Lech Wałęsa.

- History of Poland (1945–1989)

Its candidates' striking victory gave rise to the first of the succession of transitions from communist rule in Central and Eastern Europe.

- History of Poland (1945–1989)

Solidarity won 99 of the 100 Senate seats and all 161 contestable seats in the Sejm—a victory that also triggered a chain reaction across the Soviet Union's satellite states, leading to almost entirely peaceful anti-Communist revolutions in Central and Eastern Europe known as the Revolutions of 1989 (Jesień Ludów or Wiosna Obywatelów), which ended in the overthrow of each Moscow-imposed regime, and ultimately to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s.

- Solidarity (Polish trade union)

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1989 Polish legislative election

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Parliamentary elections were held in Poland in 1989 to elect members of the Sejm and the recreated Senate.

"High Noon, June 4, 1989." Solidarity Citizens' Committee election poster by Tomasz Sarnecki.

Not all parliamentary seats were contested, but the resounding victory of the Solidarity opposition in the freely contested races paved the way to the end of communist rule in Poland.

On the international level, this election is seen as one of the major milestones in the fall of communism ("Autumn of Nations") in Central and Eastern Europe.

Warsaw Pact

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Collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Poland, between the Soviet Union and seven other Eastern Bloc socialist republics of Central and Eastern Europe in May 1955, during the Cold War.

The Presidential Palace in Warsaw, Poland, where the Warsaw Pact was established and signed on 14 May 1955

A "Soviet Big Seven" threats poster, displaying the equipment of the militaries of the Warsaw Pact

A typical Soviet military jeep UAZ-469, used by most countries of the Warsaw Pact

Meeting of the seven representatives of the Warsaw Pact countries in East Berlin in May 1987. From left to right: Gustáv Husák, Todor Zhivkov, Erich Honecker, Mikhail Gorbachev, Nicolae Ceaușescu, Wojciech Jaruzelski, and János Kádár

Soviet tanks, marked with white crosses to distinguish them from Czechoslovak tanks, on the streets of Prague during the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, 1968

Protest in Amsterdam against the nuclear arms race between NATO and the Warsaw Pact, 1981

The Pan-European Picnic took place on the Hungarian-Austrian border in 1989.

The Warsaw Pact before its 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia, showing the Soviet Union and its satellites (red) and the two independent non-Soviet members: Romania and Albania (pink)

A Romanian TR-85 tank in December 1989 (Romania's TR-85 and TR-580 tanks were the only non-Soviet tanks in the Warsaw Pact on which restrictions were placed under the 1990 CFE Treaty )

The Romanian IAR-93 Vultur was the only combat jet designed and built by a non-Soviet member of the Warsaw Pact.

Expansion of NATO before and after the collapse of communism throughout Central and Eastern Europe

The Pact began to unravel with the spread of the Revolutions of 1989 through the Eastern Bloc, beginning with the Solidarity movement in Poland, its electoral success in June 1989 and the Pan-European Picnic in August 1989.

From 1989 to 1991, Communist governments were overthrown in Albania, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, and the Soviet Union.

Wojciech Jaruzelski

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Polish military officer, politician and de facto leader of the Polish People's Republic from 1981 until 1989.

Jaruzelski (right) with Fidel Castro (left) in Poland, May 1972

Jaruzelski in a television studio, preparing to announce the imposition of martial law, 1981

Jaruzelski meeting with Yuri Andropov in Moscow, 1982

Jaruzelski (second from right) with other communist leaders and members of the Warsaw Pact, Berlin, 1987

Jaruzelski's grave at Powązki Military Cemetery in Warsaw

The declining living and working conditions triggered anger among the masses and strengthened anti-communist sentiment; the Solidarity union was also gaining support which worried the Polish Central Committee and the Soviet Union that viewed Solidarity as a threat to the Warsaw Pact.

During the revolutions of 1989 in Central and Eastern Europe, Jaruzelski supported the change of government for the benefit of the country and resigned after the Polish Round Table Agreement, which led to multi-party elections in Poland.

This question, as well as many other facts about Poland in the years 1945–1989, are presently under the investigation of government historians at the Instytut Pamięci Narodowej (IPN), whose publications reveal facts from the Communist-era archives.

Communist states in Europe before the Tito–Stalin split of 1948

Eastern Bloc

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The group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed during the Cold War .

Soviet Union stamp of 1950, depicting the flags and peoples of the Eastern Bloc.

The Big Three (British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Premier of the Soviet Union Joseph Stalin) at the Yalta Conference, February 1945

World War II Polish Prime Minister Stanisław Mikołajczyk fled Poland in 1947 after facing arrest and persecution

Political situation in Europe during the Cold War

Germans watching Western supply planes at Berlin Tempelhof Airport during the Berlin Airlift

Countries which once had overtly Marxist–Leninist governments in bright red and countries the USSR considered at one point to be "moving toward socialism" in dark red

Communist countries and Soviet republics in Europe with their representative flags (1950s)

Trybuna Ludu 14 December 1981 reports martial law in Poland

Russian Orthodox Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, once the most dominant landmark in Baku, was demolished in the 1930s under Stalin

Prominent examples of urban design included Marszałkowska Housing Estate (MDM) in Warsaw

During World War II, 85% of buildings in Warsaw were destroyed by German troops

A line for the distribution of cooking oil in Bucharest, Romania in May 1986

Reconstruction of a typical working class flat interior of the khrushchyovka

Propaganda poster showing increased agricultural production from 1981 to 1983 and 1986 in East Germany

A Robotron KC 87 home computer made in East Germany between 1987 and 1989

Per capita GDP in the Eastern Bloc from 1950 to 2003 (1990 base Geary-Khamis dollars) according to Angus Maddison

GDP per capita of the Eastern Bloc in relations with GDPpc of United States during 1900–2010

Czechoslovaks carry their national flag past a burning Soviet tank in Prague

The Cold War in 1980 before the Iran–Iraq War

Changes in national boundaries after the collapse of the Eastern Bloc

European countries by total wealth (billions USD), Credit Suisse, 2018

A map of communist states (1993–present)

The "three worlds" of the Cold War era between April–August 1975:
1st World: Western Bloc led by the United States and its allies
2nd World: Eastern Bloc led by the Soviet Union, China and their allies
3rd World: Non-Aligned and neutral countries

In addition to emigration restrictions, civil society, defined as a domain of political action outside the party's state control, was not allowed to firmly take root, with the possible exception of Poland in the 1980s.

The Soviet–Afghan War nominally expanded the Eastern Bloc, but the war proved unwinnable and too costly for the Soviets, challenged in Eastern Europe by the civil resistance of Solidarity.

Unlike previous Soviet leaders in 1953, 1956 and 1968, Gorbachev refused to use force to end the 1989 Revolutions against Marxist–Leninist rule in Eastern Europe.

Poland

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Country in Central Europe.

A reconstruction of a Bronze Age, Lusatian culture settlement in Biskupin, 8th century BC

Poland under the rule of Mieszko I, whose acceptance of Christianity under the auspices of the Latin Church and the Baptism of Poland marked the beginning of statehood in 966.

Casimir III the Great is the only Polish king to receive the title of Great. He built extensively during his reign, and reformed the Polish army along with the country's legal code, 1333–70.

The Battle of Grunwald was fought against the German Order of Teutonic Knights, and resulted in a decisive victory for the Kingdom of Poland, 15 July 1410.

Wawel Castle in Kraków, seat of Polish kings from 1038 until the capital was moved to Warsaw in 1596.

King John III Sobieski defeated the Ottoman Turks at the Battle of Vienna on 12 September 1683.

Stanisław II Augustus, the last King of Poland, reigned from 1764 until his abdication on 25 November 1795.

The partitions of Poland, carried out by the Kingdom of Prussia (blue), the Russian Empire (brown), and the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy (green) in 1772, 1793 and 1795.

Chief of State Marshal Józef Piłsudski was a hero of the Polish independence campaign and the nation's premiere statesman from 1918 until his death on 12 May 1935.

Polish Army 7TP tanks on military manoeuvres shortly before the invasion of Poland in 1939

Pilots of the 303 Polish Fighter Squadron during the Battle of Britain, October 1940

Map of the Holocaust in German-occupied Poland with deportation routes and massacre sites. Major ghettos are marked with yellow stars. Nazi extermination camps are marked with white skulls in black squares. The border in 1941 between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union is marked in red.

At High Noon, 4 June 1989 — political poster featuring Gary Cooper to encourage votes for the Solidarity party in the 1989 elections

Flowers in front of the Presidential Palace following the death of Poland's top government officials in a plane crash on 10 April 2010

Morskie Oko alpine lake in the Tatra Mountains. Poland has one of the highest densities of lakes in the world.

The wisent, one of Poland's national animals, is commonly found at the ancient and UNESCO-protected Białowieża Forest.

The Sejm is the lower house of the parliament of Poland.

The Constitution of 3 May adopted in 1791 was the first modern constitution in Europe.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, located in Warsaw

Polish Air Force F-16s, a single-engine multirole fighter aircraft

A Mercedes-Benz Sprinter patrol van belonging to the Polish State Police Service (Policja)

The Old City of Zamość is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

PKP Intercity Pendolino at the Wrocław railway station

Physicist and chemist Maria Skłodowska-Curie was the first person to win two Nobel Prizes.

Nicolaus Copernicus, the 16th century Polish astronomer who formulated the heliocentric model of the solar system.

Population of Poland from 1900 to 2010 in millions of inhabitants

Dolina Jadwigi — a bilingual Polish-Kashubian road sign with the village name

John Paul II, born Karol Wojtyła, held the papacy between 1978-2005 and was the first Pole to become a Roman Catholic Pope.

The Polish White Eagle is Poland's enduring national and cultural symbol

All Saints' Day on 1 November is one of the most important public holidays in Poland.

Lady with an Ermine (1490) by Leonardo da Vinci. It symbolises Poland's cultural heritage and identity.

Selection of hearty traditional comfort food from Poland, including bigos, gołąbki, żurek, pierogi, placki ziemniaczane, and rye bread.

Traditional polonaise dresses, 1780–1785.

Andrzej Wajda, the recipient of an Honorary Oscar, the Palme d'Or, as well as Honorary Golden Lion and Golden Bear Awards.

Headquarters of the publicly funded national television network TVP in Warsaw

The Stadion Narodowy in Warsaw, home of the national football team, and one of the host stadiums of Euro 2012.

The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth at its greatest extent in 1619

In the wake of anti-communist movements in 1989, notably through the emergence and contributions of the Solidarity movement, the communist government was dissolved and Poland re-established itself as a democratic republic.